Tailgate
by Sakka
Summary: A Gena/Axel fic. A bit of romantic tension will lead to a relationship, but will it last?


Hey everybody ^^ This is my first Crazy Taxi fanfic, obviously, I hope you like it. It's going to be a few chapters long. Please leave a review if you read it. :D Thanks!  
  
  
  
"Hey! Taxi!" Gena turned her head towards the voice; a business woman was waving her arm in her direction. "Come on, pick me up!"  
  
Gena sighed; she wasn't in the mood to be ordered around. She hadn't seen any of the taxi regulars the whole day, and that made matters worse, with shouts of "don't drive so wildly!" coming from the backseat. She eased her cab over to the woman, happy that the car was running so smoothly. Just the other night she had to get a few things for her car, to upgrade and replace items in it. It wasn't unusual, due to the reputation of the Crazy Taxi Cabs company. They needed to have quite a big budget to be able to pay for all the repairs...  
  
"Hey, where you going?" Gena inquired, watching the woman climb over the side of the car with surprising ease.  
  
"I need to go to the Millenium Tower, do you know it?" The woman replied, but their brief conversation was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. Gena rolled her eyes as the business woman yammered away, and the cabbie stepped on the pedal, shocking her passenger with the sudden jolt.  
  
Gena sailed down a hill, and she already knew that this woman wasn't accustomed to the driving style of the company. She tried to ease up a bit, but the cab flew off the hill, landing with a thud, continuing to drive. Gena smiled happily, this was the normal life. The woman was shrieking, the cell phone forgotten. Gena spotted the tower in sight and began to ease down to a nice speed of 70 mph.  
  
"What kind of driver are you?!" The woman shouted, hopping out of the car as soon as they had arrived. She glared at Gena as she forced a few dollar bills into the redhead's hand. "Your liscence must have come out of a Cracker Jack box!"  
  
Gena could help but smile, how many times today had she heard that phrase?  
  
Suddenly someone else hopped into the cab. Gena turned around to see who it was. Finally, someone who DIDN'T mind her reckless driving. "Hey Cindy," she greeted the young student.  
  
Cindy hopped into the back and grinned.  
  
"Sorry if I surprised you! I just really need to get to the KFC! I have a dreamy date waiting there for me!" She sighed almost wistfully, turning her thoughts from Gena to whoever her date was.  
  
Gena floored the pedal and soon they were coasting through a busy street, the cabbie weaving expertly in and out of traffic; Cindy cheering as they passed tons of cars in the rush hour traffic jam.  
  
'How nice it must be to be so gifted in romance.' Gena thought, dodging a bus, 'Although there is that guy Pierre who seems terribly unlucky...' She skidded to a halt right in front of the restaurant.  
  
"Thanks Gena!" Cindy said, slipping some bills out of her pocket and handing them to Gena.  
  
"All in a day's work," Gena said, "See you again tomorrow. Who's the date?"  
  
Cindy shrugged, "Some guy named Pierre I met online. His picture looks amazing!"  
  
Gena shook her head, smiling at the irony as she checked her watch. She drove into the traffic jam, not wanting to hurry, and flipped the "Taxi" sign on her windshield to one that read "Out of Service".  
  
She began a lazy drive to the Crazy Taxi office to report to her boss. Finally getting onto the freeway, she let out a sigh of relief, as the traffic had cleared up. But something was still bothering her.  
  
"Who the heck is tailgating me??" It looked like another cab, but Gena couldn't make out the driver's face. He was riding right on her bumper, and Gena didn't want to slam the breaks on in her precious cab. She sped up.  
  
And so did the driver of the other cab. The redhead let out a grumble of irritation. She began to speed down the highway, darting in and out of cars, and using the other lane as much as she could. Her eyes glanced at the dashboard to see the speedometer - 70, 80, 90...  
  
But no matter what, she couldn't lose the cabbie behind her who seemed bent on ruining her evening.  
  
What was even weirder was that the other cab was following her. Every turn, every slight curve. Gena started down the alley that lead to the large garage the taxi company called home.  
  
She floored the breaks as she drifted into a stop, right in front of the garage. She hopped out of the taxi, insults already flooding through her head, as she watched the bright yellow cab pull in. The door opened, a punk rock song blaring, and the man stepped out.  
  
It was Axel. He had an ugly smirk on his face. Gena felt like a fool; how could she have not recognized the liscence plate or cab or...!?  
  
"Thanks for the chase, babe," Axel laughed as she kicked at him, burning with so much anger that she couldn't shout any insults at all. He walked into the garage, and ran a hand through his green hair while speedily buttoning up his Hawaiian shirt before entering the office to see the boss.  
  
Gena scowled and muttered a few unrepeatable words as she started to walk towards the office.  
  
---  
  
"As you all know..." The boss turned in his swivel chair. "There are going to be a few new rules. You guys are doing great so far. But we've had a few complaints, a few just came in today..." He held up numerous papers and looked at the drivers suspiciously.  
  
"Sir!" Gena spoke up, "We're having so many new customers! Of course they're going to complain, they haven't gotten used to us yet!" She said defensefully.  
  
"Well, all right. Just ease up on the breaking. Some people are talking about law suits for whiplash..."  
  
Everyone sweatdropped. Then Gus, who was laying like a blob on a huge chair in the corner of the room, asked, "Well? What else is next?"  
  
"Secondly.. I'd like to have a word with Axel, alone, please." The boss focused his gaze on the said man, who slid lower in his seat.  
  
"Well, at least it was short," Gus said, holding the door for Gena and B.D Joe.  
  
"I'm feeling sorry for Axel though," Joe replied, "When the boss talks to you, he talks to you!"  
  
Gena nodded, her thoughts reminding her of the day when she drove out to some shallow water to pick up a diver. The cab, which wasn't her's at the time, was flooded and damaged permanently. She nearly got her liscence suspended.  
  
The three walked out to the garage. Gena smiled, as she thought of the place as a second home, and did a quick overview of the area. The garage was a complex building, four carports for each cabbie, and another carport which had been divided by a wall - one room the office, the other converted into a sort of lounge. You could tell who owned which port.  
  
Gus' was decorated with crazy photos of his card playing friends, liscence plates of previous cars tacked up onto the wall, and packs of cards everywhere. It almost seemed like an addiction, at least Gena thought so, but it was better than smoking!  
  
Joe's had a large boombox, and CDs were piled up everywhere, creating an obscure mishmash between CDs and car parts. There also was a makeshift drum set made out of trash cans. Old drumsticks lay around the place as well.  
  
Gena turned and inspected her own port: art she had made herself out of car parts were hung on the wall. She had somewhat been into art, especially abstract art, and it had driven her to become a cabbie. How? She ran out of money for art college and had to turn someplace to find a job. But instead, she completely fell in love with cars, and kind of brushed off her art interests. Gena smiled; she loved being in a sleek car all day, racing around town so much, so she quit the college.  
  
Axel's was very obvious, he had a total repair center, with pinups from tons of adult magazines. Grease puddles were everywhere, and something didn't smell right in the carport... Gena wrinkled her nose and quickly walked back to her car.  
  
'What a jerk,' she thought to herself, as she launched herself over the side and started the cab up, driving it carefully into the carport for the night. 'He can't even clean up his own mess.'  
  
She went back into the lounge to see Axel talking to Gus. Gena asked, "Where's Joe?"  
  
"He went home, apparently a friend of his picked him up."  
  
"Oh, all right." Gena flopped down into the farthest chair away from Axel, who was reading a car magazine. She glared at him before giving him the cold shoulder and completely focusing on Gus. "What's up?"  
  
"Well, we were just talking about some of the new customers." Gus replied. "Lots of business people. Apparently a major company just bought out a big place downtown... I've made a lot of runs to a large building that's still under construction."  
  
"I got one of those yuppies, and also the crackerjack compliment." Gena smiled wryly.  
  
"Hey, what time is it?" Gus asked, looking around for a clock or watch. "I've got to get going... I've got a card date set up." He lifted himself from the chair and walked over to the coatrack, grabbing his coat. "See you later, guys."  
  
Gena mentally cursed Gus for leaving her alone with Axel. She turned and stared at him like he was some kind of hunted game. He looked up and stared right back.  
  
"What's your problem?" Axel yawned widely as if to mock her, then glanced back down at his magazine.  
  
"You know damn well what my problem is!" Gena exclaimed. "I don't like being tailgated, I don't like being chased, and I especially don't like finding out that it was by a fellow cabbie... on top of it, after a hard day!"  
  
"Well, 'scuse me. I thought you wouldn't care, you seem to like to drive fast." Axel muttered, reading.  
  
"I ... I just hate you!" Gena growled as she picked up a copy of "Home & Garden" on the coffee table and chucked it at him. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips.  
  
Without a flinch, he brought his hand up, caught the magazine, took a sip of his pop, and continued to read.  
  
"Are you doing this on PURPOSE?!" Gena shouted.  
  
"No, not really." Axel grinned. He looked thoughtful. "You're just cute when you're mad, you know."  
  
Gena rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Clean your carport; it's starting to reek." She exited, slamming the door so roughly that the wall slightly rattled. She turned, leaning up against the door, and sighed. 


End file.
